VRU funding for one-to-one mentoring (1)

Jennette Arnold: You recently announced funding to the VRU for one-to-one mentoring of young Londoners with complex needs1. How will this funding be allocated and how many young people do you anticipate it will help?

1Mayor of London, ‘Mayor supports disadvantaged young Londoners returning to education’ [Date accessed 21.09.2020]

The Mayor: PRUs and alternative provision play a vital role in supporting the most vulnerable of young Londoners to stay in education, thereby increasing their educational outcomes, wellbeing, mental health and future employability options. My recently launched PRU Support Programme (£2.4M) includes £840K for mentoring support for PRUs across all 32 London boroughs. Boroughs will be offered funding (£26,250) to provide the most appropriate type of mentoring that will best meet the needs of their pupils who are at risk of disengaging with their education or getting involved with serious youth violence. A variety of mentoring models will be considered including academic, career, behavioural mentoring for pupils or family mentoring to support the whole family of a vulnerable child. As such it is too early to say exactly how many young people will be supported.

VRU funding for one-to-one mentoring (2)

Jennette Arnold: How long (how many weeks) will mentoring be funded for under this scheme?

The Mayor: The mentoring element of the PRU Support Programme will be funded for 12 months, from January 2021 to January 2022. All 32 London boroughs will be offered this programme and it will be for each borough and PRU to decide upon the most appropriate type and duration of mentoring that bests meets the needs of their pupils.

Accessible Lockdown Easing

Susan Hall: What steps are you taking to ensure lockdown in London is eased in a way that is still accessible for people with both physical and mental disabilities?

The Mayor: The support that I and other funders have given to disability frontline organisations through the London Community Response, including funds designated to support equality organisations including Inclusion London, has ensured disabled Londoners have been able to access support from local expert organisations since the spring. From the £42m distributed, 11.1% went to disabled-led organisations. My support has also included an £11m Skills Providers Emergency Fund to enable providers to adapt courses, including purchasing equipment to support learners with disabilities.
My officers are continuing to engage regularly with disability charities and civil society organisations through forums such as my Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Group. One example of how I’ve been able to raise public awareness of the difficulties of social distancing for those with certain impairments, is through my support for RNIB’s #WorldUpsideDown campaign to highlight some of the issues that social distancing has brought people with sight loss.

Support for Online Harms Bill

Caroline Pidgeon: The increasing and vile attacks on minority communities on social media channels is having a huge effect on communities across London. Can you please confirm what work you are doing to push the Government to move forward as quickly as possible with the Online Harms Bill, and whether you will be supporting a role for OFCOM in regulating social media companies moving forward?

The Mayor: I have consistently pushed for the Government to go further and faster to protect the most vulnerable online.The Government’s Online Harms White Paper was published well over a year ago; and in that time, there has been an ever-greater use of technology owing to the Covid-19 pandemic. It is never more imperative that the Government updates regulations and legislation to ensure that our online world is a safe and positive place for UK citizens to explore.
I have committed to taking a zero-tolerance approach to hate crime and am acutely aware of the growing impact of the internet in the spread of hate speech, extremist views, and the harassment of democratic representatives. I have been vocal about the role of the internet in spreading violent messages and the incitement to commit serious youth violence.
In addition, the Mayor's Civic Innovation Challenge - an open call for tech start-ups to tackle London's key challenges – has partnered with the Metropolitan Police Service to co-design innovative solutions to countering violent extremism online. Selected from over 125 entrants, Raven Science’s winning proposal to tackle extremism will enable members of the public to report online violent extremist content through a smartphone app while remaining anonymous.
I believe that a framework of comprehensive regulations overseen by an adaptable new regulator is the way to provide a standardised set of rules and expectations for the public, technology companies, and Government alike. This must include a statutory code of practice to tackle content which may although may not currently be illegal, would be recognised as harmful to individuals, harmful to our democracy, or against fundamental British values.
Education is a key strand to the prevention of online harms. In December 2018, Google and I jointly announced the provision of a £600k grant from Google.org for charities to train youth workers to be confident in dealing with issues relating to social media and enable young people to use social media for good. But what is really needed is a step change in the way our society is taught about the internet and the unique ways in which it can affect our social interactions.

VRU 4

Susan Hall: In what areas does the VRU require improvement?

The Mayor: The best time to stop violence is before it starts. That is why the recently published Youth Violence Commission called for sustainable long-term investment from the Government for VRUs.
COVID-19 has had a significant and unprecedented impact on London’s communities and particularly for young Londoners at risk of exploitation. The time is now for national investment into frontline services working to reduce violence in London’s most affected communities if they are to survive and thrive.
Our best chance of long-term success will come through well-designed and funded interventions that are based on evidence. A successful public health approach is rooted in good multi-agency working and close working with communities. The Unit will continue to strengthen both its evaluation work and partnership relationships, with government, the national network of VRUs, and local communities ensuring there is robust evidence across London on what is working.

VRU 1

Susan Hall: Please can you explain the significant underspends by the VRU for two years in a row?

The Mayor: In September 2019 the Home Office confirmed the allocation of £7m, stipulating that full spend and delivery must take place by March 2020. To ensure this was fully spent, the VRU worked hard to identify programmes and partners which would help deliver the strategy for violence reduction; and negotiate contracts within this tight timeframe.
Maximising spend against time-limited Home Office funding, enabled the VRU to then develop more sustainable long-term programmes, by carrying-forward and committing Mayoral funding (the underspend) against programmes in the following year. The underspend was contractually committed with providers and spend was fully allocated.
At Q1 2020/21, the VRU are forecasting a full year variance of -£3.8m, of which £3.1m has been approved for carry forward into future financial years. This allows programmes to run longer, to deliver the best outcomes. There has also been reprofiling of programmes to deliver services differently, due to COVID-19.

Andrew Adonis (3)

Tony Devenish: Do you agree with Andrew Adonis that "now the Government has given up daily press conferences, [the Mayor] should start them, updating Londoners day by day on the transport situation and new opportunities open to them"?

The Mayor: The Government needs to ensure that the people of this country, including Londoners, are kept fully informed of the key issues and the support available to them to help mitigate the impact of COVID-19. As Mayor of London, I continue to work extremely hard to keep Londoners informed of the latest public health guidance and support available to help people through the crisis.

Government U-turns

Joanne McCartney: The government has performed a surprising number of U-turns recently, often at the last moment. How has this affected London and Londoners?

The Mayor: The Government still haven’t got to grips with this virus and their inconsistent approach in responding to COVID-19 has created a confusing and complex landscape which has undermined public confidence, both across London and the UK. Too many times has the Government committed to a course of action only to realise the error of their ways after significant damage has already been done to people’s lives and livelihoods. The Chancellor’s recent changes to his flawed job support scheme is just another example of this, with businesses and workers having to go through weeks of uncertainty before the changes were finally made.

VRU funding for those in alternative education settings

Florence Eshalomi: How will you ensure that this offer is made to gang associated young women who may be less visibly at risk than young men?

The Mayor: My recently launched PRU Support Programme will offer all London boroughs funding (£26,250) to provide the most appropriate type of mentoring that will best meet the needs of their pupils who are at risk of disengaging with their education or getting involved with serious youth violence. A variety of mentoring models will be considered including academic, career, behavioural mentoring for pupils or family mentoring to support the whole family of a vulnerable child. From the growing evidence base and our consultations with PRUs there is increasing concern around young women and girls involvement in gangs. Career mentoring was specifically indicated as a focus for girls in PRUs to address this. PRUs will need to ensure that their programme reflects the needs of all their pupils, and that includes – gender, age and ethnicity specific needs.

VRU 2

Susan Hall: Do you expect another VRU underspend next year, if so, how much?

The Mayor: There is no underspending in the VRU budget; all the VRU budget has been allocated. I established the London VRU to develop longer term sustainable approaches to tackle violence and was delighted when the Home Office established a further 17 VRUs across the country and awarded the London VRU £7 million in addition to my £7.8m budget allocation.
Learning and listening to community and VCS partners, the VRU is clear that programmes need time to develop and funding for more than a year. In the absence of a confirmed allocation from the Home Office for next year’s budget, the VRU has adopted a sound financial strategy to enable £3.1 million of spend to be carried forward to 2021-22. In addition, the VRU has reprofiled 0.7m worth of programmes to enable providers to deliver services differently due to the impact of COVID.